Bartolomeo Passarotti* (1529-1592)

Studies of two écorché Shoulders and a Leg

Details

Bartolomeo Passarotti* (1529-1592)
Studies of two écorché Shoulders and a Leg
extensively inscribed in Italian and with letters 'A B'
black chalk, pen and brown ink, watermark device in an oval
17 1/3 x 11 1/3 in. (434 x 283 mm.); and another after Cigoli (2)

Provenance

Rolland Urquhart.
Anon. sale; Sotheby's, London, 4 December 1969, lot 86 (£100).

Literature

C. Höper, Bartolomeo Passarotti, Worms, 1987, II, Z189, fig. 48a. A. Ghirardi, Bartolomeo Passerotti, Rimini, 1990, p. 44, illustrated.
M. Kornell, Drawings for Passarotti's Book on Anatomy, to be included in a forthcoming publication, ed. S. Currie, Drawings 1400-1600: Invention and Innovation.

Lot Essay

A study related to the book on Anatomy which, according to Borghini, the artist started around 1584. "He works on a book on muscle structure, on bones and flesh, how one must learn the art of drawing in order to master it". A more finished drawing, perhaps related to the title page of the book, is in Warsaw, A. Ghirardi, op. cit., p. 43, illustrated. Other pages connected with the plates in the British Museum and British Library are more finished than the present one. Monique Kornell has therefore suggested that the present sheet along with a study in Stockholm were preparatory studies for these plates.